ladybug: birthday
by ulstergirl
Summary: Nancy and Ned's daughter can't wait to meet her new sibling.


Bess wasn't too surprised when Beth wasn't one of the first children out of the preschool. She had parked off to the side, and once she had checked in with the parking assistant—this was only the third time she had picked Beth up from the school, after all—she sat on the hood of her car and surveyed the recent releases through her sunglasses. Small boys and girls were swept up into the arms of grandparents, parents, or nannies; some proudly held crayon drawings or art projects aloft. The lighting was good; it was a perfectly partially-overcast late spring day, the lawn was a beautiful verdant green. She spotted grubby, slumped socks and dirt-smudged knees, but the happy gleam in the children's eyes...

Bess smiled and gave herself a little shake. Family photography was hard, and photographing children was even harder. She was glad she didn't do it so much. At least Nancy, Ned, and Beth had been easy to deal with, when she had been doing their portraits a few months ago. It didn't hurt that Beth absolutely adored her—

"Aunt Bess!" Beth squealed when she saw her. Her dark-red hair was pulled back from her face with matching plastic butterfly clips, and she wore a bright-teal flower-sprigged top and miniature denim capris. Her sandals slapped on the sidewalk as she ran toward Bess for a few feet. Then she paused and glanced back at the bespectacled African-American girl who had been walking beside her. "Bye Tanya!"

"Bye Beth!" Tanya waved and started to skip toward her own father.

Bess leaned down and made a quiet "oof!" sound as Beth collided with her. She swept her up and gave her a hug, then cuddled her against her hip. "Hey there, snuggle-monster. Good day at school?"

Beth nodded with a grin, gazing up at her honorary aunt with her father's big brown eyes. Bess had joked when she was born that Elizabeth had been named for her; Elizabeth had been the name of Ned's grandmother, too. "Baby?"

Bess nodded. "Your mom is in the hospital now, but sometimes boys and girls can get sick if they go to the hospital and they don't need to. So we're going to hang out for a while, okay? Your dad will call when it's time for us to go see Little Lord Percival."

Beth giggled. "Ed'und!" she corrected Bess. "Ed'und James."

"That's right. Edmund James." She kissed Beth's forehead and opened the back door so she could buckle Beth into her car seat. "What do you think, a happy meal and some ice cream?"

Beth nodded eagerly. "I'm'na be a big sister," she said, her eyes shining.

Bess did receive a call from a newly-engaged fiancée checking to see if Bess would be available on her tentative wedding date, but otherwise she and Beth ate hamburgers and ice cream; Beth opted for oreo cookies and sprinkles on top of hers. Then they went to Beth's house so she could pack an overnight bag. Hannah and Carson would take care of her the next day, but they were at the hospital now.

Beth kept up a running stream of bright chatter as she packed her rolling suitcase. Bess sat down on her small bed and gently rubbed a palm over her stomach. She and Tyler had been talking about maybe having a child... and, thanks to all the time she had spent with Beth, the idea wasn't so frightening now.

Then Beth rushed over to her, holding a doll. "Look!" she exclaimed, rushing back to her toybox for a small jar of "baby food" and a plastic spoon. "I can feed her!"

"That's very good, sweetie."

"You want to?"

Bess had to smile as Nancy's little girl demonstrated how to "feed" the baby doll with the special spoon and bottle. A lot of her personality had come from her mother. She took the spoon Beth offered her and let Beth correct her, brow furrowed as she watched. Beth clapped when Bess successfully "fed" the baby a mouthful of food. "Good!"

Bess smiled, and then reached down to lift Beth onto her lap. "You're a lot like your mom," she told her. "You're really excited about your new little brother, huh."

Beth nodded. "Little baby," she murmured. "But we can play when he's bigger."

"Yeah." Bess gave her a hug. "Maybe one day I'll have a little girl like you, ladybug."

Beth's eyes lit up. "We can play!"

"Yep." Bess smoothed her hair and released her. "You can play together and solve mysteries. And then come home and tell us all about it while we bandage up skinned knees and feed you cookies."

Beth put her baby's supplies away, then very gently put her baby doll in a toy stroller. "Movie?"

Bess chuckled. "Well, we can start one. With any luck my phone will ring soon."

They ended up watching all of one movie and half of another, although Beth also asked if they could paint their fingernails and toenails, so they did that too. Then Hannah called, and they headed to the hospital, their fingernails and toenails newly glittery-blue.

Hannah, Ned's father and mother, Nancy's father, and George were all in the waiting room when Bess and Beth came in. Beth immediately lit up when she saw them. Bess had no idea where all her energy came from.

George greeted Bess with a hug. "Ned came out a couple of minutes ago and said they'll bring him to the window for us to see in a few minutes."

"Everything okay?"

George nodded. "She's tired, but things went well. And how are you today, ladybug? Excited to meet your baby brother?"

Beth nodded as she hugged her Aunt George's legs, and George ruffled her hair. "Mommy?"

"You can go see her in a little while, sweetheart," Nancy's father answered Beth. "She's resting."

"Grandpa we had ice cream!" she told him with a grin. "And look! Pretty!"

She wiggled her fingers, and Nancy's father laughed. "Yes, baby, very pretty. So pretty that maybe you just might win at checkers tonight, I'll be so distracted."

Then the nurse brought the baby to the viewing seat, and none of them could focus on anything else for a while. He looked vaguely unearthly, in a small white stocking cap, his dark-eyed gaze almost serene as he looked out at an unfamiliar world. Beth touched the glass between them with her palm, her lips parted, propped on Nana Nickerson's hip.

"He looks just like your daddy," Ned's mother told Beth in a murmur. "Just like your daddy when he was a baby."

By the time Bess was able to see Nancy, Beth was with her too; Beth was on the bed beside her mother, cuddled up to her. Nancy looked entirely exhausted, and so tired, but happy; Ned was visibly glowing with pride and stroking Beth's hair.

"Congratulations. He looks so sweet."

Nancy smiled tiredly. "Thanks for watching her for us."

Bess nodded. "Well, she is my god-daughter," she said with a grin. "My namesake. Did she show you her fingernails?"

Ned chuckled. "Maybe. She's very proud of them. Did you tell her thank-you, ladybug?"

Beth pushed herself up. "Thank you for ice cream and pretty glitter," she said with a grin. "Love you."

"Love you too, sweetie. I'll see you soon, all right?"

Then the nurse came in with their son, and it was just the four of them, three peering down into the small wondering face. Ned and Nancy's son, who would break hearts with the first blink of his dark eyelashes, she was sure.

As soon as she was in the car, Bess smiled and reached for her phone, tapping Tyler's name in her contact list.

"Hey, honey? That talk we were having... I think maybe it's time for us to talk about it again." She gently patted her belly with a smile.


End file.
